AG Barr has posted a 19 per cent jump in profits for the first half of the year as warm weather boosted sales during May, June and early July.

The Cumbernauld-based firm said the core Irn-Bru brand saw sales growth of eight per cent in the six months to the end of July.

The company said its soft fruit drink brand Rubicon was also a star performer with sales up 37 per cent.

Total turnover grew 13.9 per cent to s119.2 million while pre-tax profits rose to s16 million from s13.5 million.

Roger White, chief executive, said: "We are delighted to have built on last year's strong overall performance with a very positive start to the 2010/11 financial year.

"We have achieved sales growth well in advance of the market for our core brands and during the period have further increased our marketing investment."

The company said part of the growth in Irn-Bru was fuelled by increased marketing investment outwith its Scottish heartland, in particular in the North of England.

The Rubicon brand benefited from new sponsorship of Twnety20 cricket. White said: "This is part of our plan to roll Rubicon out from its traditional market in the south east to the rest of the country."

White pointed out that it would be harder to achieve similar growth in the second half because comparison with the second half of last year would be much tougher.

But he added: "While we remain cautious regarding the overall economic and consumer outlook, we believe we are well positioned to meet our expectations for the full year."